Photos: China's top leaders meet

Updated 1:22 AM ET, Thu November 15, 2012

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – After months of speculation, China unveiled the elite group of leaders who will set the agenda for the country for the next decade, including new Communist Party General Secretary and presumptive next president Xi Jinping.

Hide Caption

1 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang, two of the members of the new seven-seat Politburo Standing Committee, greet the media at the Great Hall of the People on November 15.

Hide Caption

2 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – From left, Zhang Gaoli, Liu Yunshan, Zhang Dejiang, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Yu Zhengsheng and Wang Qishan greet the media at the Great Hall of the People on November 15. China's ruling Communist Party revealed the new Politburo Standing Committee after its 18th congress.

Hide Caption

3 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – Xi Jinping delivers a speech as the rest of the new Politburo Standing Committee looks on.

Hide Caption

4 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – A paramilitary guard stands outside the Great Hall of the People as journalists leave the unveiling ceremony of a new Politburo Standing Committee on November 15.

Hide Caption

5 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – Hostesses pose before the gate to Tiananmen Square as delegates arrive at the Great Hall of the People for the start of the closing ceremony of the Communist Party Congress on November 14. The week-long congress will end with a transition of power within the party, most notably, introducing new members of the Politburo Standing Committee, which effectively runs China.

Hide Caption

6 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – Thousands of members of China's Communist Party are meeting in the immense Great Hall of the People in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Hide Caption

7 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – Tibetan delegates carry party documents as they leave the closing ceremony of the Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 14.

Hide Caption

8 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – Members of a Chinese SWAT team wait outside the closing ceremony of the Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People on November 14.

Hide Caption

9 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – A paramilitary police officer stands guard during the flag-lowering ceremony at Tiananmen Square on November 13.

Hide Caption

10 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – Cars for delegates to the party congress are pictured near the Great Hall of the People, mostly black Audis.

Hide Caption

11 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – Chinese President Hu Jintao (seen at the very bottom) addresses delegates on November 8.

Hide Caption

12 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – In his address, Hu warned that corruption could bring down the Communist Party and the state it controls. "If we fail to handle this issue well, it could prove fatal to the party, and even cause the collapse of the party and the fall of the state," Hu said.

Hide Caption

13 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – Hu helps former Chinese president Jiang Zemin to stand up as Prime Minister Wen Jiabao looks on at the opening of the 18th Communist Party Congress.

China's top leaders meet – A man adjusts a television screen showing a live broadcast of Hu speaking at the Party Congress at a supermarket in Wuhan, Hubei province on November 8.

Hide Caption

16 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – Workers gather to watch Hu's address to the Communist Party Congress. Hu called for stepped-up political reform and a revamped economic model on the first day of the congress.

Hide Caption

17 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – A woman watches the Party Congress on television from her cigarette shop in Shanghai.

Hide Caption

18 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – Chinese hostesses jump for the cameras before the Party Congress' opening session in Beijing.

Hide Caption

19 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – Members of the press gather inside the Great Hall of the People for a briefing on November 7.

Hide Caption

20 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – Congress spokesman Cai Mingzhao answers a question during a news conference at the Great Hall of the People.

Hide Caption

21 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – Attendants pose for a picture in Tiananmen Square on November 7.

Hide Caption

22 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – A soldier tries to prevent photos being taken in Tiananmen Square on November 7.

Hide Caption

23 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – Chinese paramilitary policemen march through Tiananmen Square on November 7.

Hide Caption

24 of 25

Photos: China's top leaders meet25 photos

China's top leaders meet – Towers covered in flowers were on display in Beijing ahead of the Party Congress.